Butterfly exercise machine

ABSTRACT

A butterfly exercising apparatus includes a pair of cranks pivotally mounted to a table supporting frame assembly for butterfly-like arcuate motion. Movement of either crank handle is transmitted by a cable and pulleys to a lever arm the free end of which is hinged to the bottom of a weight displacing shaft. A set of weights, adapted to slide along guide rods depending from a pivotable support member, are pinned to the shaft. Arcuate motion of either or both crank handles moves the lever arm, shaft and weights up and down, providing a selectable weight resist to the person using the exerciser.

United States Patent 91 Annas [451 Jan. 2, 1973 54] BUTTERFLY EXERCISEMACHINE Marcy Gym Equip. Co., 1736 Standard Ave., Glendale Calif.,Catalog, 1971, page 51.

Primary Examiner-Richard C. Plnkham Assistant Examiner-11. G. StrappelloAttorney-Flam & Flam [57] ABSTRACT A butterfly exercising apparatusincludes a pair of cranks pivotally mounted to a table supporting frameassembly for butterfly-like arcuate motion. Movement of either crankhandle is transmitted by a cable and pulleys to a lever arm the free endof which is hinged to the bottom of a weight displacing shaft. A set ofweights, adapted to slide along guide rods depending from a pivotablesupport member, are pinned to the shaft. Arcuate motion of either orboth crank handles moves the lever arm, shaft and weights up and down,providing a selectable weight resist to the person using the exerciser.

11 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures BUTTERFLY EXERCISE MACHINE BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION 1. Field of the invention The present relates to abutterfly exercising apparatus wherein arcuate motion of a pair of crankhandles is resisted by a selected set of remotely situated weightsdisplaced by the crank handle motion.

2. Description of the Prior Art Certain body muscles advantageously areexercised by holding dumbbells and moving the arms through an arcuatepaths resembling, with some imagination, the flapping of butterflywings. As the person increases in ability or muscle tone, more heavilyweighted dumbbells are employed; often these become of unwieldy size,with concomitant danger should the weights accidentally be dropped.

Certain exercising devices employing remotely situated, selectableweight stacks are known in the prior art. Typical of these is the legpress described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,1 16,062 to Zinkin. That exercisingapparatus includes a bell crank having foot receiving pedals at one endand pivotally connected at the other end to the top of a weight liftingrod. The user presses his legs against the pedal to rotate the bellcrank and lift the weights. While useful for leg exercises, such anassembly is not suitable for butterfly type arm exercises.

These and other limitations of the prior art are overcome by the presentinvention, an objective of which is to provide a butterfly exerciserincluding handles gripped like dumbbells, but connected to a remotelysituated, selectable stack of weights.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To accomplish the foregoing objective, there isprovided a butterfly exercising apparatus having a pair of cranksmounted to a table supporting frame assembly and adapted for arcuate,butterfly-like motion. The crank handles are connected by a cable andpulley assembly to a lever arm extending beneath the table on which theuser may recline. The free end of the lever arm is hinged to the bottomof an upwardly extending weight displacing shaft, to which a selectableset of weights is pinned. The weights themselves are adapted to slidealong a pair of guide rods which depend from a transverse memberpivotally mounted at the top of an upwardly extending frame assembly.Butterfly motion of either or both crank handles is transmitted via thepulley and cable assembly to move the lever arm against a selectedweight resist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A detailed description of theinvention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings,which are to scale.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the inventive butterfly exercisingapparatus.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, transverse sectional view, as seen generallyalong the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, showing the butterfly exerciser lever armand weight displacing shaft in raised position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The following detaileddescription is of thebest presently contemplated mode of carrying outthe invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense,but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the generalprinciples of the invention, since the scope of the invention best isdefined by the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, the inventive butterfly exerciser 10includes a pair of cranks ll, 12 having respective crank handles 11a,12a situated on either side of a body supporting table 13. A user,reclining on the table 13, grips the handles 11a, 12a and rotates one orboth of the cranks 11, 12 about respective horizontal axes defined bythe crankshafts 11b, 12b. Motion of the cranks ll, 12 is transmitted viaa cable and pulley assembly, generally designated 14, to a lever arm 15.The free end 15a of the lever arm 15 is hinged to the bottom of anupwardly extending, weight displacing shaft 16. Certain of the weights17 are connected to the shaft 16 by a pin 18 so as to be moved up anddown in response to user imparted butterfly motion of the crank handles11a, 120. As described below, positioning of the pin 18 permitsselection of the amount of weight resisting movement of the cranks 11,12.

The cranks 11, 12 are supported by a frame assembly 22 including uprightmembers 22a, 22b extending from a footing 22c and spaced on oppositesides of the table 13. A transverse member 22d extends between theuprights 22a, 22b to support one end of the table 13. The crankshafts11b, 12b are attached to the respective uprights 22a, 22b.

The other end of the table 13 is supported by an inverted U-shapedmember 23 extending upwardly from a footing 24. The lever arm 15 issituated generally beneath the longitudinal centerline of the table 13,and is pivotally attached at the fulcrum end 151) to a fitting 25 on thefooting 24. r

The cable and pulley assembly 14 includes a single cable 26 the ends ofwhich are attached to the respective crank arms 11c and 12c. The cable26 is guided around and beneath the table 13 by a pair of pulleys 27, 28mounted to the uprights 22a, 22b and another pair of pulleys 29, 30mounted to the table supporting member 22d. The center of the cable 26engages a pulley 31 attached to the lever arm 15 at a location betweenthe uprights 22a, 22b. With this arrangement, upward arcuate motion ofone or bot'h'crank handles 11a, 12a pulls the cable 26, raising thepulley 31 and causing the lever arm 15 to pivot upwardly about thefulcrum end 15b.

The upward motion of the lever arm 15 is transmitted to the shaft 16which extends through the vertical openings 17a in each of the weights17. Each weight 17 is provided with a horizontal hole 17b extending fromthe front surface to the vertical opening 17a. The pin 18 is insertedthrough the hole 17b of a selected weight 17' into the corresponding oneof a plurality of radial bores 16a in the shaft 16. Thus the shaft 16lifts the pinned weight 17' and the other weights above it in the stack17, as to the: raised position shown in FIG. 2.

The weights l7 slide along a pair of guide rods 33 which extend throughvertical holes 17d in each weight. The guide rods 33 depend from atransverse support member 34 pivotally mounted across the top ofa frameassembly 35 including a footing 35a and a pair of uprights 35b and 350.The lower ends of the guide rods 33 support a transverse member 36having a clearance hole 360 through which the weight displacing shaft 16extends. A pair of coil springs 37 surround the guide rods 33 betweenthe weights 1'7 and the transverse member 36 to cushion the downwardimpact as the weights are lowered into the rest position shown in FIG.1.

The weights l7, guide rods 33 and lower transverse member 36 togetherare free to swing about the horizontal axis defined by the pivot pins340 at the ends of the upper supporting member 34. This limited arcuatemotion accommodates the horizontal component of motion of the bottom ofthe shaft 16 as the lever arm pivots about the fulcrum end 15b.

Thus there is provided a novel butterfly exercising apparatus in whichuser manipulated crank handles are moved against the resistance of aremotely situated stack of weights.

Intending to claim all novel, useful and unobvious features shown ordescribed, the applicant claims:

1. A butterfly exercising apparatus comprising:

a first upwardly extending frame assembly,

a transverse member pivotally connected across the upper ends of saidfirst frame assembly;

one or more weight guide rods extending downwardly from said transversemember,

a stack of weights adapted for sliding displacement along said guiderods, said weights, guide rods and transverse member together beingadapted for arcuate motion about and beneath the pivotal axis of saidtransverse member,

a weight displacing shaft extending upwardly through said stack ofweights and including pin means for attaching a selected subset of saidweights for upward displacement with said shaft,

a lever arm hinged at one end to the lower end of said weight displacingshaft, and

butterfly crank assembly means for imparting upwardly pivotal motiontosaid lever arm, thereby displacing said shaft and subset of weights, inresponse to arcuate movement of one or more crank handles.

2. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 1 wherein saidbutterfly crank assembly means comprises:

a second upwardly extending frame assembly,

a first crank having a handle and pivotally attached to said secondframe assembly for arcuate movement about a first horizontal axis, and

pulley and cable means interconnecting said crank I and said lever armfor transmitting movement of said first crank handle to said lever arm.

3. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 2 wherein saidbutterfly crank assembly means further comprises a second crank having ahandle and pivotally attached to said second frame assembly for arcuatemotion about a horizontal axis parallel to but spaced from said firstaxis, said pulley and cable means including a single cableinterconnecting and transmitting movement of either crank handle to saidlever A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 3 wherein saidpulley and cable means comprises a single pulley attached to the middleof said lever arm and having an axis generally parallel'to said leverarm, the ends of said cable being attached respectively to the arms ofsaid cranks, said cable engaging said single pulley.

5. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 4 and furthercomprising a table situated between said cranks and adapted to support auser while said user grips and moves said crank handles.

6. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 5 wherein saidsecond frame assembly includes a horizontal table supporting member,additional pulleys being attached to said table supporting member toguide said cable around and beneath said table.

7. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 6 furthercomprising another frame member supporting the foot of said table, thefulcrum end of said lever arm being pivotally mounted to said otherframe member.

8. In an exerciser of the type wherein a user reclines on a table andmoves crank handles through arcuate paths;

a frame assembly supporting said table,

a pair of cranks pivotally mounted to said frame assembly on either sideof said table, said cranks each having a crank arm and a crank handle,

a cable extending between said crank arms,

a lever arm extending generally longitudinally beneath said table,

means operatively attaching said cable to said lever arm for pivotingsaid lever arm in response to motion of said cranks,

a stack of weights dependingly supported in a frame and adapted forlimited swinging motion,

a weight lifting shaft hinged to the free end of said lever arm andextending upwardly therefrom, and

means for connecting asubset of said weights to said shaft .for upwarddisplacement therewith as said lever arm is raised by arcuate motion ofsaid cranks.

9. An exerciser according to claim 8 wherein said means operativelyattaching comprises a pulley attached along the middle of said leverarm, said cable looping around said pulley.

10. An exerciser according to claim 9 further comprising additionalpulleys mounted to said frame assembly for guiding said cable aroundbeneath said table.

11. An exerciser according to claim 10 further comprising a supportingassembly beneath the foot end of said table, the fulcrum end of saidlever arm being pivoted to said supporting assembly.

1. A butterfly exercising apparatus comprising: a first upwardlyextending frame assembly, a transverse member pivotally connected acrossthe upper ends of said first frame assembly; one or more weight guiderods extending downwardly from said transverse member, a stack ofweights adapted for sliding displacement along said guide rods, saidweights, guide rods and transverse member together being adapted forarcuate motion about and beneath the pivotal axis of said transversemember, a weight displacing shaft extending upwardly through said stackof weights and including pin means for attaching a selected subset ofsaid weights for upward displacement with said shaft, a lever arm hingedat one end to the lower end of said weight displacing shaft, andbutterfly crank assembly means for imparting upwardly pivotal motion tosaid lever arm, thereby displacing said shaft and subset of weights, inresponse to arcuate movement of one or more crank handles.
 2. Abutterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 1 wherein saidbutterfly crank assembly means comprises: a second upwardly extendingframe assembly, a first crank having a handle and pivotally attached tosaid second frame assembly for arcuate movement about a first horizontalaxis, and pulley and cable means interconnecting said crank and saidlever arm for transmitting movement of said first crank handle to saidlever arm.
 3. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 2wherein said butterfly crank assembly means further comprises a secondcrank having a handle and pivotally attached to said second frameassembly for arcuate motion about a horizontal axis parallel to butspaced from said first axis, said pulley and cable means including asingle cable interconnecting and transmitting movement of either crankhandle to said lever arm.
 4. A butterfly exercising apparatus accordingto claim 3 wherein said pulley and cable means comprises a single pulleyattached to the middle of said lever arm and having an axis generallyparallel to said lever arm, the ends of said cable being attachedrespectively to the arms of said cranks, said cable engaging said singlepulley.
 5. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 4 andfurther comprising a table situated between said cranks and adapted tosupport a user while said user grips and moves said crank handles.
 6. Abutterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said secondframe assembly includes a horizontal table supporting member, additionalpulleys being attached to said table supporting member to guide saidcable around and beneath said table.
 7. A butterfly exercising apparatusaccording to claim 6 further comprising another frame member supportingthe foot of said table, the fulcrum end of said lever arm beingpivotally mounted to said other frame member.
 8. In an exerciser of thetype wherein a user reclines on a table and moves crank handles througharcuate paths; a frame assembly supporting said table, a pair of crankspivotally mounted to said frame assembly on either side of said table,said cranks each having a crank arm and a crank handle, a cableextending between said crank arms, a Lever arm extending generallylongitudinally beneath said table, means operatively attaching saidcable to said lever arm for pivoting said lever arm in response tomotion of said cranks, a stack of weights dependingly supported in aframe and adapted for limited swinging motion, a weight lifting shafthinged to the free end of said lever arm and extending upwardlytherefrom, and means for connecting a subset of said weights to saidshaft for upward displacement therewith as said lever arm is raised byarcuate motion of said cranks.
 9. An exerciser according to claim 8wherein said means operatively attaching comprises a pulley attachedalong the middle of said lever arm, said cable looping around saidpulley.
 10. An exerciser according to claim 9 further comprisingadditional pulleys mounted to said frame assembly for guiding said cablearound beneath said table.
 11. An exerciser according to claim 10further comprising a supporting assembly beneath the foot end of saidtable, the fulcrum end of said lever arm being pivoted to saidsupporting assembly.